Tales from the Digital Manifest
by Crazyeight
Summary: The effects of the Digital Manifest are far and reaching, extending across whole worlds. But what is the Digital Manifest? Meant to provide hints for my Digital Manifest story, will include Digidestined. R&R Please...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: After about a month and a half I've decided to resurrect this fic, mostly so I can explore a bit more with the world of Digital Manifest. Originally intended as a one shot I just felt the need to expand on it, and involve a few more characters and their reactions to the events that are also occurring in my 'Digital Manifest' storyline. This fic will involve a few more OC's, some villains that have yet to make an appearance, as well as the Digidestined. Although it's likely that the Digidestined won't play a huge role in any other events outside of this fic, it is necessary to at least include their reactions to events that don't directly concern them…yet. At any rate, I'll likely end up merging another one of my one shots, "Tai's Revelation" into this fic and see where things go from here. With that out of the way, I present the resurrected version of "Tales from the Digital Manifest".

It is better to read 'Raven's Flight' before continuing with this tale. If you already have than continue on. Oh, R&R please…

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon

Tales from the Digital Manifest: Chapter 1

It had been a month since Raven had left home to search for two kids that may or may not have disappeared into the digital world. If she had asked for an opinion the given response would be that she was running a fool's errand. The digital world is a big place, operating on multiple layers of data with each layer representing a different universe, and then of course there were the realms of the Sovereigns…

Yeah, Jane Dawn, better known as the Raven to her contemporaries, had her work cut out for her.

One month and she had nothing to show for her search except for a strange data reading that was so vague that if it weren't for the fact that it was similar in aspect to the signal that a digivice gave she would have given up a long time ago. It was her only lead, and it was nearly stone cold. The fact that she at least had a lead didn't comfort her, because if she could track them however old the trail was, she was sure that someone or something else could too; there were a lot of dangers in the digital world, and lately things have been getting just a little bit worse. Just yesterday she and her partner Munnimon had encountered something that the digivice couldn't even identify, and it called itself a Homa, no mon attached. A strange name, but then it was a strange creature, and powerful. Munnimon had to digivolve to Ultimate just to take it out! The only other notable thing about it was that it resembled a Griffin in appearance. There were things going on in the digital world that she didn't think were part of its normal activities, and while she hadn't visited the digital world enough to know what exactly passed for 'normal' but she was familiar enough with the place to identify discrepancies.

Like a shadowy cloud tangling with a thunderbolt as though they were enemies, and a herd of Bullmon running scared from it.

Okay, maybe it wasn't all that strange; she had seen the TV show and that had some strange stuff going on in it, but the sense that she got, even being a fair distance away from the occurrence, she got the feeling that there were forces at work; great and powerful forces. She had to remind herself why she had come to the digital world just to avoid investigating.

That was three weeks ago.

"Jane…"

Jane stopped and looked up as her partner, Munnimon came in for a landing. The blue-colored bird digimon looked uncomfortable under the sun (it was a rather hot day out) and even Jane was coming to regret bringing nothing but dark clothing with her, but she couldn't complain now. The last alignment of data was three days ago, and until that data aligned properly again she couldn't go home. Too bad for her…

"What's up, Munnimon?" She asked her partner and friend. "Do you need to rest?" Munnimon nodded reluctantly. To her, Jane was always such a strong person who never seemed to show a hint of exhaustion. To not be able to match that kind of endurance made her feel as though she was slowing them down and she hated it.

"Alright," Jane said looking around. "This place seems to be just as good a place as any. Take five." Sitting down, Jane broke into her backpack and rooted through their supplies before breaking out an apple and cutting it in half with a pocketknife to share with her partner. As she bit into the delicious fruit she couldn't help but hope that there would be a data alignment soon so that she could use it to bus back between the worlds. Their supplies were running low, very low, and Munnimon was having a hard time finding any new sources of food. She couldn't help but wonder how those two kids, Ryan and Chris, were doing. They had been gone for so long now; their parents must really be wigging out. She once again thought of the enormity of her self-appointed task and groaned inwardly.

_This is stupid. I've got no idea where they are really. The only reason why I think that they could be here is because I saw that Ryan kid with a digivice right before they disappeared. And then there's that weird signal that I keep picking up, but that could be just about anything. Probably a digimon that just recently digivolved or something, I mean they do share similar signals. _Of course, Raven knew that wasn't exactly true. The signal had stuck around longer than it should have. A digimon that digivolved might sometimes have a data signal before it becomes integrated into the digital world's natural energy fields, but more often than not the signal would dissipate almost immediately, and if it did happen to stick around, it was almost certainly gone within days, a week at most. Jane had been following this trail for four, almost five weeks now, and it showed no signs of going away anytime soon. It was her only clue and she couldn't afford to pass it up.

It was better than aimlessly wandering and asking the digital pedestrians for help.

After Munnimon told her that she was ready, Jane repacked their supplies and they set off again. After a few minutes, her digivice started making agitated beeping noises. Pulling it out she called up the scanning program and gasped.

_Data's aligning itself! It looks like we'll be able to make a pit stop back home! _Grabbing Munnimon by a wing she closed her eyes and concentrated, focusing her will through her digivice and envisioned her room in her mind. "Hang on Munnimon," she told her partner. After a couple of seconds Jane opened her eyes and frowned. Nothing had happened.

"Oh, come ON!" She shouted up at the sky. Munnimon looked up at her worriedly. She knew what her partner was trying to do, but why nothing was happening was beyond her.

"Jane…?"

"Just a second, I'm going to try again." She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing; her thoughts almost seemed to melt into a fog as she drifted in her mind. Still nothing. Jane bit back a curse.

"Maybe the digivice is broken." Munnimon offered.

"I really hope you're wrong, 'cause if you aren't we're in trouble. What I don't get is why it's not sending us home. I mean, it's still doing everything else so far, and it's not like I dropped it or anything…"

"Didn't you once compare it to that cell phone that you dropped from off a Farris Wheel? How it kept working until it fell off your desk later on in the day?"

Jane scowled before looking back at the digivice. "I don't think that it's quite the same thing in this case," she said scanning the data patterns once again. "I don't get it, the pattern is the same one that we need to reenter the real world, so why isn't it responding to my digi…" she paused. The scanner was showing a different perspective now, one that she hadn't seen before. It still showed the data patterns, only now they looked as though they were being pulled towards a specific location.

_Wha…? That's different? And what's the deal with that pattern?_ She pulled up a map and combined it with the scanner, pinpointing the location where the pattern was being drawn to and checking it with her own location. Surprisingly it wasn't too far ahead, just on the edge of a forest over near a forest, probably about ten or so miles distant. _Rocmon could easily make that trip no problem. _She caught a bolt of lightning in her peripheral vision off in the direction where that her digivice showed her where the pattern was bending to. She looked over to Munnimon.

"It looks like something's decided to hijack our ticket home and I want to see what. You ready to digivovle?" Munnimon's smile was answer enough, and Raven's digivice glowed.

"MUNNIMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"ROCMON!"

The dark-blue sphere of data that had surrounded Munnimon shattered, and revealed a massive bluish-black bird with white tinted wings. Climbing aboard Rocmon lifted off into the air and flew towards the disturbance, which had now taken on a completely new look as the air began to warp and tear in places, light streaming through the cracks in the digital walls that divided the two worlds. As they closed in, Jane could pick out a figure. It was humanoid in appearance, and wore white and blue armor that otherwise would have been obscured by the brown cloak that it had draped over its shoulders. She almost could have believed that it was human, if not for the fact that it was seven feet tall. Jane suddenly had an idea as to who it was, and if not, than whom it owed allegiance to.

"HEY! Do the Aesir know that you're out?"

The figure turned towards her voice. She couldn't see its face through the hood, but she would've bet that it was smiling.

"Why Jane," the figure said in a voice that was neither male nor female. "I didn't expect to run into you this early in the game. Count yourself lucky that the Aesir have deemed you _off limits_; otherwise I would have come after you the instant you touched down in the digital world. I must search for prey elsewhere now."

"Whatever. And don't call me Jane! My name's Raven to you! You haven't earned the right to call me by my real name! And just what do you think you're doing? I thought that you weren't allowed to be out on your own!"

The being chuckled. "Yes, imagine that. A digital deity actually – what do you human children call it? – Grounded. Almost hilarious when you think about it, but then you're not the one in that position…"

"You're dancing around the subject, doofus!"

"You wound me Raven. And here I thought we were friends."

Jane scoffed. "Friends don't try to kill each other." The being laughed heartily, as if at an old joke.

"Come now, there's no one closer than an old enemy. After all they're the one's that hold your life in their hands! Oh well, enough idle chitchat. The data has stabilized enough for me to use now. Good-bye my dear. I have a date in the real world, and I do not wish to be late." And with that he tore a hole in the air, revealing what looked like a wooded area belonging to a park. Jane brought out her digivice.

_Like hell you will, _she thought. Rocmon tensed as Jane's digivice began to glow. The figure before them, sensing the gathering of energy turned back and fired a bolt of lightning at Rocmon before stepping through the portal. Rocmon easily dodged the lightning and looked at the portal in time to see it begin to close.

"JANE!" She shouted. Without replying Jane held out her digivice, and its glow, temporarily dimmed when Rocmon outmaneuvered the attack, burned with the fury of the sun. The closing portal suddenly halted in its progress, and went into reverse, enlarging to the point where Rocmon could fly through with ease. Wiping her brow, Jane and Rocmon took off after their quarry.

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A few minutes earlier in the real world…

"William… can we please get an ice cream cone? It's hot out!"

A red – haired boy in a gray shirt and a dark-brown jacket looked up annoyingly at the blue – furred creature that he had perched on the back of his neck. "No Bill, and I'll tell you why. Because you can't sit still long enough to pretend to be a stuffed animal. I'm still having a hard time believing that old lady didn't up and have a heart attack when you actually talked to her. I didn't think that she'd ever stop screaming…"

"William…"

"N-O, Frank."

"Plllleeeeaaaaazzzz?"

"GAOMON!"

The blue furred, glove wearing, dog-like digimon shut up. Once Will used his real name the discussion was over. This was an old game between them Gaomon once told William about how he once lived in a village of Gaomon that looked just like him, and Will had asked how they could tell each other apart. Gaomon had replied that everyone knew everyone in the village so it was never a problem, but William hadn't gotten it, so he came up with the idea of giving his partner a name. When Gaomon had protested, Will had continued on anyway, with Gaomon reviling each and every name that the kid bestowed upon him. Since then Will just called him any name that he thought of at the moment, only resorting to his real name in moments of stress or agitation. Such was the case now.

"I said I was sorry," Gaomon said after a few minutes.

"I know, but you should tell that to the old lady. Oh, wait! You can't 'cause she'll freak out again and try to beat you to death with her purse. I swear I must've done something really bad in a previous life to deserve you. Aren't you Gaomon supposed to be fiercely loyal, calm and quiet?"

"What can I say? I was the misfit in my litter."

"Obviously. You're about as calm as my baby sister on a sugar high…"

The two shared a hearty laugh at that, as both were very familiar with the little girl who bore a personality that far outmatched anything that Susie Wong could dish out. If they had ever met Henry's little sister, they would thank their lucky stars that Rachel hadn't invented her own version of the _Princess Pretty Pants _treatment to try out on poor Gaomon. Her only saving grace apparently.

Suddenly the air behind them tore open in a flash of light. Spinning around and wincing against light, they could just make out what looked like a cloaked figure. Any other details however were lost, at least until somebody turned off the light show.

_Oh this is just great! My day just took weirdness to a whole new level. Maybe if I pinch myself I'll wake up in my room and all this will be just a dream. Yeah, that's it. And I'll buy Gaomon that stupid ice cream cone he's been begging for 'cause that incident with the old lady didn't really happen and…_

William felt very strong hands grab him by his shirt and haul him two feet off the ground, Gaomon falling off of his shoulders and landing heavily on the ground in the process. _Jeez, maybe I'll just buy this guy an ice cream, _he thought ludicrously. _He seems like he could use a good sit down. _

"The Mjolner, boy," the figure in front of him demanded. "Where is it? Give it to me!"

_Mjolner? What the…? What's a Mjolner? _"Dude, I don't know what you're talking abou…"

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Roared Gaomon as he jumped up towards his friend's assailant. "GAO RUSH!"

The figure simply turned his head towards the little blue dog, and fired beams of violet energy from his eyes. The beams smashed into Gaomon and threw him to the ground. Gaomon coughed and tried to get up, but failed.

"GAOMON!" Shouted William as his gaze turned to his partner in fear. _What the heck does this guy want with me? If I knew I'd give it to him! I don't want to see Gaomon hurt because of me! _The digivice clipped on Williams's side began to glow, and the figure that was holding him looked down at his waist, noticing the light emanating from within his jacket. The light grew brighter, and then burst out with a small explosion of white energy. The figure holding William screamed in surprise and pain and dropped him to the ground. William stared dumbfounded at the situation and then seeing as how his attacker appeared to be stunned, he decided that now was as good a time as any to beat a hasty retreat. Grabbing Gaomon he prepared to beat feat and leave a cloud of dust in his wake when another sound caught his attention. Overcoming his better judgement Will risked a look.

_Oh, for the love of…_

What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks. What had to be the largest bird he had ever seen in his life just tore its way out of thin air and latched onto the cloaked figure with one claw before hauling it up into the air. Afterwards came a girl with her dark hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a white t-shirt and a black fleece jacket. Looking up she raised a device that bore a remarkable similarity to his own and the bird's form suddenly glowed and changed. During this process that held William spellbound, the bird shouted:

"ROCMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"HUMAMON!"

The bird that emerged from the light was one of the most beautiful he had ever seen; certainly one that would have birdwatcher communities drooling and gossiping for months if they ever had a photo of it. It reminded William of a Phoenix the way its orange and crimson feathers rippled with energy. Looking at it, William felt as though life, as he had experienced it up to this point, was just a black and white picture while this, this was color and plasma TV.

"Whoa…" said Gaomon with wide eyes.

"Yeah…" responded William.

"Whoa…" Gaomon said again.

"I know…"

The figure now burst free from the bird that had held him. The two did nothing at first, but simply stared at each other. After a minute, the figure spoke.

"Off limits is off limits. But don't think that this is the end. Things are coming to a head now. There will be a manifestation; a rebirth, and not you, or the Sovereigns will stop it! Not even the Aesir know…" the figure caught himself. "Well, you'll just have to find out on your own won't you? But know this, the pits of Tarturus will seem like a heaven to you both when the Manifest occurs." And with that he tore another hole in the air and prepared to go through it.

"No you don't…!" Began Humamon, but her opponent blasted her with a bolt of lightning, sending the great bird down. Without a second to lose the cloaked figure entered the portal and sealed it behind him.

The girl rushed over to where the great bird lay, calling out her name. Humamon sat up with a groan, but told the girl that she would be all right. William looked at the two.

"Um… someone care to explain…?"

The girl looked up at him, her eyes held a cold look to them that gave him pause. "Never mind kid. Just forget what you saw here 'cause it doesn't concern you." William blinked.

"Now hold on," said Gaomon angrily. "I definitely think that it does concern us. That guy just attacked my buddy, and I think that we deserve an explanation as to why!" the girl looked at Gaomon as if she had just realized that he was there. Her eyes widened slightly, but did not lose that cold look to them. She looked over to where she had appeared and then looked at her digivice. She bit her lip as if debating something. She looked back at them.

"I can't talk right now. I'm already in the middle of something, so just…stay on your guard. If you see that guy again just turn around and run! Got it?"

"But…"

"Humamon? Let's go!" Running off towards where she first showed up, the girl disappeared, and was soon followed by the giant bird. William briefly considered following them, but the sound of sirens changed the course of that thought process. Still carrying Gaomon Will ran off, heading towards home.

_Cripes, what'd I just stumble into? I think I'll just buy Gaomon that ice cream cone anyway, 'cause suddenly that episode with the old lady doesn't look so bad! Oh man, what am I going to do?_

The sound of approaching sirens gave the young boy his answer as his pace quickened.

_Mom is going to be really cheesed when she hears about this…_

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Jane frowned darkly as she watched the portal close. She wondered about a lot of things now. Things about the Aesir, about the Juten, about those two kids that she was trying to track down. She couldn't help but wonder if they were already caught up in whatever this _Manifestation _thing was.

Terrific, something else that I need to worry about; just what I needed. As if things weren't already hard enough.

She wondered what course she should pursue now. Should she continue looking for Ryan and Chris, or should she try to track down an old friend of hers who could possibly shed light on her discovery.

_Decisions, decisions…_

12


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Tales from the Digital Manifest: Chapter 2

She approached the fortress, reveling in her glory, not even bothering to hide or mask her approach. Instead of the usual fear and caution that most denizens of the digital world show when they near a place like this, she acted as though it was hers, as though she had every right to belong there. Strange creatures known as Airdramon flew overhead, eying her, and some made as if to attack her but thought better of it a second later. Though she appeared human, she had a sense of power and majesty that was both wonderful and terrible to behold. Some of the creatures that she passed actually bent knee to her, even though they had already pledged their souls to another, whom dwelled in the fortress ahead.

They knew power when they saw it.

Lillithmon spied the human woman in the images reflected in the dark waters that she contained in her cauldron. This water came directly from an area called the Dark Ocean, and while it was perilous to use anything that came from that shadowy place Lillithmon didn't care. To her, it was another way to increase her own personal strength, and as the old saying goes, _you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs._ Not that she was one for human clichés mind you.

She was one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. Rulers of the darkness and powerful beyond all reason. They had conquered whole worlds in the past, and even may have broken the strength and wills of other Digidestined that had opposed them, but by and large, their pasts are shrouded in mystery.

Lilithmon had been aware of the intruder from the moment that she had entered her territory, stepping out of a dimensional gateway in much the same fashion that any of the other Demon Lords have done in the past. This intrigued Lillithmon. The intruder looked human, had nothing physical about her that suggested that she was anything but, and had no digivice to show any way that she could have crossed the barriers between the material and digital worlds. That, and she radiated strength that was tempered down by what most likely was the wisdom that came from experience.

_Who is this?_

Lillithmon had at first sent advanced scouts and even warriors to dispatch the intruder, but each of them took it in their turn to find themselves unable to do anything against the human. Even powerful Ultimate level digimon like Knightmon were destroyed or made to kneel before her without so much as a single attack. In fact, often a smile or a kiss was all that was necessary to break their wills. Lillithmon leaned back contemplatively as the woman continued on her course, not deviating for anything.

To be honest, she reminded Lillithmon of herself.

Finally, after what almost seemed like an eternity, the woman found herself outside the gates to Lillithmon's home. The gates to its entrance were open, welcoming her in. A trap most likely but she advanced without hesitating, as though thoughts of her own safety were beyond her, or the idea of a trap was beneath her notice. Lillithmon, for once in her long life, did not know whether she should applaud the human for her bravery or feel insulted by it.

Two Demon like digimon approached her, one as black as night with all the fury and rage of the burning hells, and the other white like ice, and extreme cold radiated from its body. They both had tattered wings and stood tall, with great horns arching out of the sides of their skulls. A Devimon and an IceDevimon. The woman frowned at them but continued at her pace. The IceDevimon reached out to halt her, only to scream when she turned her gaze on him and he was deleted. The Devimon paused to let her pass. Once her back was to him he struck.

A second later his data joined the nether world.

The woman continued her journey unmolested until she stood in the throne room herself. Standing before Lillithmon, who for the moment, pretended to show no interest in her, instead contenting herself with her 'playthings', those miserable shadows of humans and digimon alike that she had long since broken to her will. She watched the woman out of the corner of her eye though, and she liked what she saw.

The woman had high cheekbones, and a commanding look to her face that made Lillithmon know that she looked down upon her, had she not that aura of power about her Lillithmon would have taken her attitude for arrogance and would have taken great pleasure in breaking her immediately. Her skin, though a light brown, appeared more as a mix of all colors, and her facial features were likewise indiscernible. She could have been from anywhere, belonged to any group. Her hair was long and smooth, almost dark as the night sky, and her eyes held an ancient and terrible wisdom in them that went to depths not even Lillithmon could have envisioned. Lightning danced in her irises, and one could almost believe that world's shook beneath her feet.

All this Lillithmon saw in a single moment, and in another her _toys_ simply _evaporated_. It was so sudden that they hadn't had the chance to scream, and even Lillithmon was startled by this display. She didn't show it though. Lillithmon hadn't risen to her level of power by showing fear in the face of opposition.

Lillithmon stood, drawing herself to her full height and gracefully descended the steps from her throne, still keeping some distance between herself and the stranger. The two of them looked at each other, both of them measuring the other. Had anyone been around to watch them, they would have thought that they were sisters just by how similarly they acted.

Finally, after a few minutes of this 'game' the woman spoke, her face assuming a disgusted look. "You're not what I thought you'd be," she said, her voice filled with contempt. Lillithmon raised an eyebrow.

"You were expecting something more?"

"One would have liked to think so, especially in this world. But then, you're all just pale shadows aren't you?"

Lillithmon fought to control her emotions. "You surprise me," said Lillithmon. "I wouldn't expect a _human_ to be so direct. Do you have any idea who or what you are dealing wi…?" Lillithmon retort was cut off as she felt her airways constrict and her feet were lifted off the ground. She tried to move her body, but found that she was immobilized. Lillithmon's eyes widened. It had all been so sudden, so unexpected. She hadn't thought that the human would actually be able to catch her by surprise like this. The woman spoke.

"No, you have no idea who you are dealing with," she said coldly. Her words were like jagged icicles. "You've had your time, and now it's over. I did not come here to palaver with the likes of you, but to instead take your place. To prepare your world for the order that is to come. My brethren will waste their strength battling it out with each other, trying to find the Keepers. _I _on the other hand have no care for what happens to them. I will take this moment to claim what is mine and let the others fight over the scraps. _You_ are just a stepping-stone for my ascension. Say good-bye to your precious kingdom my little shadow, and perhaps when you reformat you will be _my_ toy." With that the woman threw her head back and laughed. Her eyes widening, Lillithmon's struggles found new strength and she soon broke free, earning a look of surprise from her attempted jailor and executioner. Lashing out, Lillithmon struck with her demonic claws, forcing the woman to stagger back, before spewing a black mist upon her.

"PHANTOM PAIN!" Lillithmon called out before rearing back her claws again. The mist settled somewhat and Lillithmon slashed with her claws.

"NAZAR NAIL!" Her hand dove into the billowing fog, and then something clutched at her wrist, pulling forward and causing her to stagger. The mists parted and she found herself staring into the amused eyes of her nemesis.

"Good effort," was all woman said before driving her hand into Lillithmon's chest. Lillithmon screamed in horror as her data parted and drifted away. The woman smiled before slowly ascending the stairs to the Demon Lords now former throne. Seating herself upon it, she called out in a voice that though soft echoed throughout the halls and across the land. All who heard it looked up and trembled, but found themselves unable to ignore what was said.

_"Come, my children. It is time to serve your new master…"_

4


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I cannot acknowledge this fact enough…

Author's note: This story is supposed to advance the plot of my 'Digital Manifest' storyline. I don't know for sure just how much of a role that the digidestined will play in it, if at all. Let me know what you think and send some suggestions, questions, concerns, R&R… the usual stuff.

Tales from the Digital Manifest: Chapter 3

Tai's Revelation

Tai Kamiya ran through the streets of Odeiba with Agumon at his side. Fifteen minutes ago Izzy had called and told him that Gennai had sent an e-mail saying that a digimon had appeared somewhere in the park; no other specifics were given other then that the digimon was powerful. Tai said to call the other digidestined and let them know of the situation, but he seriously doubted that any of them would be able to get there before him. The second group of digidestined, Ken, Davis, Kari, Yolie, Cody, and T.K. were on the other side of the city at Ken's house having a little get-together, and all the rest of the other digidestined that made up the first wave were busy with the duty of life; jobs, the beginnings of College, the works. _Things used to be much simpler when we were younger,_ Tai thought. This thought didn't hold much relevance however as he and his partner closed in on the park. As they approached a mist seemed to rise from off the ground, and it carried with it all the warmth of the grave. Tai shivered, and despite being the bearer of the crest of Courage, he felt his bravery falter a bit. Agumon looked up at Tai with concern showing in his emerald eyes, but Tai pressed forward. He didn't want to show Agumon that he actually felt a little bit afraid of whatever they were going to find in there as he didn't want that to mess up his partners reactions when and if they fought whatever was in the park.

Tai stopped suddenly as the mist became thicker. The air was deathly quiet, and the fog…it was not natural. It almost seemed to glow in some places, and swallow light in others. Every now and then, Tai could have sworn that he saw a face form out of the mists, almost seeming to plead with him to either turn around and run, or to take pity and help them. Agumon also noticed this phenomenon.

"Tai, there's something about this place that doesn't feel right."

Tai nodded. "I know Agumon, but Izzy said that there was a digimon around here and we need to check it out. I'm almost tempted to wait for the others to get here, but I'd rather that the others didn't have to face this. Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible, okay?" Agumon nodded and the pair got moving again, but not for long. The silence of the fog was shattered as a massive form fell to the ground before them with a resounding crash. The mists parted enough to reveal it as a Metal Tyrannamon, but that wasn't what held their attention. Out of the mists burned a pair of red eyes standing tall above the fallen digimon. They held neither compassion nor fury, but rather a driving need that was almost primal, as though it were an action or a force of nature made flesh. From beneath those burning eyes walked a figure dressed in black robes that made Tai think eerily of the Grim Reaper. The figure approached the fallen Metal Tyrannamon and laid a hand on its head. The digimon cried but once, and then burst into data. Tai and Agumon stared at the ease with which this stranger had destroyed the digimon. Collecting himself, Tai called out to the stranger angrily.

"Hey! Did you have to destroy that digimon? He was already down! And who are you anyway?" The figure looked at the digidestined, but Tai couldn't see his face within the shadows of his hood. When the figure spoke, his voice was like a cold wind in a graveyard, where the autumn leaves rustle, disturbed from their resting place on the ground, and the iron gates creak noisily.

"His time had come, young Tai. That is why I destroyed him, and as to my identity, I am that which is the fate of all things in the end."

Agumon looked baffled. "How did you know who Tai is?"

"Never mind that, Agumon," said Tai. "What I want to know is why this guy thinks that he can decide who lives and who dies." The figure stood there, unmoved by the boy's anger. He spoke to Agumon first.

"I know Tai because I know all things that are born into the world, whether or not they are living. And I don't decide who lives and dies, it is simply the natural order of things and I exist to make sure that natural order isn't upset by anything. The creature that you saw? His time was up, and he tried to evade it," the figure paused before speaking again in a much colder voice. "Fool. You cannot evade death no matter where you run."

Tai felt a cold chill chase its way down his back, but refused to back down. "No matter what you think, you can't just kill helpless digimon…"

"I would hardly have called that creature helpless bearer of courage, and you should be one to talk. You have slain digimon in the past, have you not?"

Tai shouldn't have been surprised by this being's knowledge, but he was nonetheless. Unbidden, memories came to him; memories of the Dark Masters, of Apocalymon, and all the evil digimon that have tried to destroy the digital world and everything he held dear. "That was different…"

"It always is with you mortals. I serve a force similar to the one that chose you and your companions to be their champions, and I do what I must in that service. That is something that you of all humans should understand. Yet I sense that you will attempt to impede me. Let me warn you in advance," If Tai could see his face he would have seen the stranger's eyes narrow. "You would be wasting your time." Tai looked at the figure, his face set in determination. He looked down at Agumon, who had been, for the most part, silent during this exchange.

"Are you okay with this, Agumon?" Agumon looked at the stranger, and then at Tai. There was something wrong about this situation. The figure that stood before them wasn't human, but he wasn't a digimon either. And that disturbed him, but Agumon nodded anyway. No matter what this guy was, Agumon was willing to face him as long as Tai was.

No matter what.

Agumon stepped forward. The figure didn't look particularly dangerous, but then it did just destroy an ultimate level digimon with just a touch, which meant that was something to watch out for.

The figure watched impassively, and then shook his head in resignation. "I see. It is not your time though, so I will have to delegate this matter to someone that is more _suited _to the task." Stepping to the side, the eyes that still glowed above him moved forward, revealing a massive, great horned, and armored figure. Blackened steel shone in the glow of the mist, and its fists clenched. It made no move to draw the great broadsword that it wore on its back, as though it were unconcerned with its soon to be foe. And more than that, it radiated power that came off in waves.

It was like watching a natural disaster slowly make its way towards you.

With just one glance Agumon knew that this wasn't going to be an easy one. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Tai could feel it to. There was no question, no debate. A simple acknowledgement of the situation was made and Tai's digivice glowed with the light of the heavens.

"AGUMON, WARP DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

"WAR GREYMON!"

His form changed from that of a small dinosaur to a tall proud warrior, with armguards and claws. Armor covered his body, and on his back was mounted a split shield with the crest of courage emblazoned on it. The stranger watched this transformation impassively. Tai took this moment to note that two more figures, also wrapped in cloaks though they were more of a brownish-red color, had joined him in watching the show. The black-robed stranger spoke.

"The famous War Greymon. You may be powerful, but you do not have the spirit of war to contend with my comrade here." With a nod, the armored monster rushed War Greymon with a speed that should have been impossible considering its size and amount of metal that it was wearing, but then, things seemed to have left the realm of reason a long time ago. War Greymon leapt into the air to avoid the crushing blow that he was sure would come, but didn't quite make it. He passed over his opponent's head, only to have it latch onto his ankle and throw him into the ground. Getting up, War Greymon saw that his foe had not followed up on his attack and appeared to be waiting for him to make the next move. War Greymon smiled.

_Big mistake._

Gathering energy in between his hands he raised it above his head where it swelled into a miniature version of the sun. He pronounced his attack before hurling the glowing sphere at his enemy.

"TERRA FORCE!"

The destructive energies tore a path towards the creature, unrelenting, unstoppable. The power to rip apart whole mountains and level cities, and yet the creature didn't move. It just took the attack where it was enveloped by a tremendous explosion bright enough to make both Tai and War Greymon cover their eyes. As the light died down an armored fist burst forth and struck War Greymon in the chest, hurtling him backwards until gravity laid claim to his body and he collapsed back onto the ground.

"WAR GREYMON!" Shouted Tai. "YOU OKAY?"

War Greymon groaned as he struggled to get back up. He felt as though he had just been hit by the combined attacks of all four Dark Masters, Venom Myotismon, and Diaboramon at the same time. _This isn't good, _thought War Greymon as he got to his feet, but he was still willing to give it another go. He raised his claws, signaling to his friend that he was ready to do battle again.

It was not meant to be however.

The light that surrounded them, that gave the fog its luminosity suddenly heightened, and then the fog was blown apart, revealing the presence of two more figures. One was an Angewomon, which at first made Tai's eyes search for Kari until he noticed that this Angewomon was different from the one that he knew, having a helmet without the cross marking on it and silver breastplates instead of gold. Next to her stood a dark woman with long silver hair, and white silken robes. A light radiated from her features, and Tai stood there, his jaw agape at her. She was by far the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on, and, strangely she had a sense of reality about her that made it impossible to look at anything but her. Tai and War Greymon couldn't have looked away even if all the dark powers of the digital world burst into the real world and laid waste to everything.

The woman held herself with an elegance that was almost like royalty.

The black robed figure spoke.

"I see that you've taken to having these 'pretenders' in your service my lady," inclining his head slightly as he spoke, indicating the Angewomon. "It doesn't become a being of your stature."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "They serve their purpose. Now, I would like to know what you are doing here. The treaties still hold no matter what the situation. What could possibly be important enough to draw the Lord of the Grave to this world, against ancient treaty and against all oaths?"

The figure laughed, the sound grated on Tai's soul like fingernails on a chalkboard. "I still have a job to do Lady of the River. Treaty and sacrifice notwithstanding."

"You know the danger that we face. It is bad enough that others of our kind have broken away, we do not need the likes of you joining their ranks."

"I do not care for your petty squabbles or your politics. I was here long before you and the meat sacks called humanity, and I will still be here long after the Aesir and Juten are broken. I am above those things. I am above you."

The woman's glare, already fierce, became fiercer. "Where the survival of our people is concerned, that is no longer true dark one." The figure laughed again.

"Is that _fear _that I hear in your voice? From you? You who once claimed to be immortal? Ah, my goddess, do you fear that after all the long centuries that you have lived you will finally fall into my domain? Into my shadow?"

"As I stated earlier, we are ALL in danger. Why else would you have aided the Aesir in their twilight when Ahrimon's forces broke their gates and brought their walls to ruin?"

The robed figure was silent for a moment, before finally gesturing to his three companions. "I go where they go," he said darkly. "And they where I go. And on that day of Twilight, there was much reason for us to be there. Do you deny us that?" The woman glared at the figure before speaking.

"No, I do not," she said finally. The robed figure nodded and turned. His three companions joining him, the larger, armored one glancing over at War Greymon before following. A new fog rose from the ground and they vanished into it. The woman watched for a minute longer before turning her attention on Tai and Agumon, having just de-digivolved from War Greymon. She looked them over, her eyes filled with approval and disapproval, almost as a mother would when she sees her child accomplish succeed in some dangerous venture that she thought him incapable of doing, while at the same time marveling at the stupidity of doing just that. She opened her mouth to speak, snapping Tai and Agumon out of their daze.

"Better run home boys, and be careful of who you pick a fight with next time. I might not be there to save you." And with that she and the Angewomon turned to leave.

"WAIT!" Tai called. The woman turned. "Just who are you?"

She looked at him for a moment. "Just a figment of your imagination," she said before vanishing into the air. Tai stared at where she had stood for a minute until Agumon tugged at his jacket.

"Tai? Can we go home now? I'm sure that Izzy's going to want an update on this."

"Right. Sure," Tai said as they turned to leave the park, wondering just how he was going to explain this one to Izzy.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter takes place before the events of Digital Manifest

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, or any of the characters associated with it, except for the ones that I make up.

Tales from the Digital Manifest

Chapter: 4/ part 1: Slayers

Silence in the digital world. Such a precious commodity. More often than not, there is no silence for any who choose to dwell in this place. Wherever you go, life is fraught with danger, from digimon that are always on the prowl for territory or data, to the recently arrived new specimens that at the moment remain unidentified. The digital world is a continuously evolving place, and it is believed, by a small majority, that one day even the digimon who dwell there will cease to be, to be replaced by something else. Something stronger. Who can refute this claim? Digimon have gone extinct in the past, and this much everyone acknowledges (a digimon known as Apocalymon had proven to be the ultimate testament to that), but all digimon? Surely that's impossible… right?

Right?

That question can only be answered when such a day comes. Until then it is a matter of philosophers and diviners. For the rest, life continues with its periods of rest punctuated by the occasional bit of chaos that must come at least once in every generation. During such chaotic moments, everything is cast adrift, and silence… that precious commodity… is no sooner spoken, than broken.

"DOUBLE SCISSOR CLAW!"

A massive, four legged insectoid digimon known as an Okuwamon slashed at a strange lion like creature that bore a humanoid face and a scorpion tail. The bulky creature leapt back and quickly lashed out with its claws, tackling the Okuwamon to the ground and digging into its thick armor with its claws as it hissed and growled. The Okuwamon made no noise however in response aside from a grunt. It was long used to this sort of ordeal and it soon threw the creature off and dug into the ground, concealing itself. The lion like creature growled and sniffed the air, waiting as tension filled the air, but as the long minutes passed it soon gave up and cast its eyes about for visible prey. It soon settled on the closest available target, even though it wasn't anywhere near as _meaty_ as the Okuwamon that it had been fighting earlier. It stalked towards it, half expecting it to up and start running. It didn't do that though, even though it could certainly see perfectly that it was in danger. It had been there the whole time, just standing there, watching and holding some strange light in its hands…

The ground exploded beneath it and a pair of scissor like claws quickly latched around the lion monsters sides, and tightened! Crushing! It was crushing…!

With one last roar the lion like monster slumped in the Okuwamon's viselike grip and ceased all movement. The Okuwamon finished digging itself out of its hole, maintaining its grip all the while, testing ever so often to ensure that the creature was finished before setting it down. There was a glow of light, and the Okuwamon shrank, transforming into a cybernetic creature that vaguely resembled a magnet. There was a crunch of sand beneath shoes and the digimon, an Kokuwamon, turned to see a dark haired boy approaching.

"Good work, Kokuwamon," said the boy. "Your timing's gotten better since you've first digivolved to ultimate."

"Thanks Dai," said Kokuwamon. "Now how about we finish this up? I'm sure that the Regin will want an update before we go home."

The boy named Dai frowned. "The Regin can wait," he said. "I'm not interested in what they want. I don't trust them or their agenda."

"But they helped us…"

"For their own reasons Kokuwamon," said Dai a little harshly. "And you know that just as well as I do. Why they have us hunting errant critters like this I don't know, 'cause they won't tell us. And that's not the first time they haven't told us anything. They still haven't told us why we're supposed to be on the lookout for someone named _Raven_. Weird name for a guy to have…"

"_Girl_, Dai," said Kokuwamon. "I paid attention to the briefing."

Dai shrugged. "Whatever." And with that, he brought up a strange device that was shaped a little like a _T,_ with silver trim. It glowed brightly and enveloped the lion monster, and its form began to warp and change shape before briefly parting into thousands of tiny shards before resettling into a miniature, statue like object that resembled its former self. Picking it up, Dai smirked. _Stupid Manticore,_ he thought. _Don't know why you came here, or what it is that you were looking for, but this is the end of the road for you. Just what **is** it with these guys and their fascination with the digital world? They seem to be popping up here a lot more lately._ Pocketing the statue Dai was about to turn and leave when something caught his eye. Bending over, he took a closer look at it.

Half buried in the sand was a strange object that vaguely resembled a digi-egg. It was angular, and obsidian black. Not much else to it other than that. He had heard stories about this type of digi-egg, or _digi-mental_ as they were called in other parts of the digital world. It was supposed to be an ancient way of digivolving dating back to the digital world's early years, and since Dai had involved himself in the matters of the digital world he had taken it in turn to study as much of it as he was able to. He knew about the various digivolutions that could come from the use of the digi-eggs, and the different ones that existed from courage all the way down to miracles, but he had never seen one like this before. There wasn't even a crest on it anywhere. Well, it might be useful at any rate. Quickly digging it out, Dai held it up and looked it over before walking towards where Kokuwamon stood. The mechanical digimon looked at him impassively, awaiting his orders.

"Change of plans buddy," Dai said. "We're going to be making a brief pit stop home first."

Kokuwamon looked at what his partner held in his hand. "What is that? Is it…?"

"I think it's a digimental," said Dai. "And I'd appreciate it if you kept this between you and me for the time being."

"The Regin aren't going to be happy that you kept something from them."

"Hey, they want us to continue to work as _Slayers_ for them then they're going to have to let this one slide. In the meantime, I intend to check this thing out myself. Now, let's go home."

Kokuwamon sighed. "All right…"

Dai held up his silver trimmed device and closed his eyes. A second later they were gone.

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Some time had passed since the battle had taken place between the Okuwamon and the creature that the boy had called a Manticore. All was peaceful once again, and the only thing that stirred was the desert sand from the wind. But as we all know, that sort of thing doesn't last for very long. The sky darkened and lightning flashed. Off in the distance, thunder could be heard rumbling, and lightning flashed again, illuminating the landscape, revealing a warrior standing tall and proud. He looked at the ground and then up at the sky. He frowned. There was no thought passing through his mind about what had occurred. He simply knew what he had to do. Lightning flashed once more, and at its end, the warrior vanished.

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Part 2: Ryo and the Raven

Ryo Akiyama sat on Cyberdramon's shoulder as the ultimate flew through the air, heading towards the portal that would lead back home. About time too! Things were just unusually hectic in the digital world for some reason. Digimon were migrating out of their usual territories, causing trouble wherever they went, even entering other worlds like his home in unprecedented numbers. Much like that Parasimon invasion not to long ago. At first he thought that was just a freak coincidence; nothing more than an army of digimon trying to bio-emerge and conquer the real world but he now… Ryo's face furrowed in deep thought. He was starting to wonder just what was going on in the digital world that was causing such a large amount of disturbances. He had just seen the Digimon Sovereign Azulongmon, who had contacted him about a strange upset in the borders of the digital world. Something from the outside was tampering with its defenses.

_"Is it coming from the Dark Area?"_ Ryo had asked, but the mighty mega digimon had shaken his head.

_"No, it seems to be coming from somewhere else. Somewhere beyond the known boundaries of the digital world."_

_Yeah, like that really narrows things down,_ thought Ryo sardonically as he went over what Azulongmon had told him, which to be honest, wasn't much at all. Not very helpful, but then he was dealing with a number of problems and he had no idea where it was coming from. What was it that made the holy digimon believe that Ryo could do any better? Well, it didn't matter right now. He had to get home. Even though the digital world needed him, he tried to keep his disappearances as short as possible. A thought crept its way into Ryo's mind. Perhaps he should make the Sovereigns pay him to do this stuff for them. It'd be a mutual arrangement since he's gone from home for so long to do the sort of jobs that they never seem to do themselves. Ryo chuckled, knowing full well that he'd still do the job for free no matter how long it took. Still, it was tempting…

Some movement from down below caught Ryo's eye.

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"Jane?" Asked a bird like creature to a dark haired girl in a black fleece jacket. "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

"Do we have a choice, Munnimon?" Asked Jane. "You saw what happened earlier, that kid would have been killed if we weren't there, and he has the same digivice that I do. Just like Ryan right before he disappeared. I'm starting to think that there's more to what's going on here then we know, and there's only one person that I trust to fill me in."

Munnimon nodded, but she didn't look like she agreed with her partner and friend. She would go along with it anyways but she didn't have to like it. They continued to walk on until a fog rose up around them. Jane blinked in surprise. Even though this had happened to her before the last time she had gone through this, she still wasn't used to it. It was just creepy how he always found you when you started looking for him, even when it looked like he shouldn't have any foreknowledge of it.

The mists grew incredibly thick, and for an instant Jane thought that she heard something heavy land in her vicinity, but she mostly discarded it as a trick of the fog and nothing more. The mists parted slightly, revealing a ring of tall, standing stones and in its center stood a man in long, tattered robes. From what was visible, his body appeared to be covered with strange tattoos that both drew and tricked the eyes. Jane blinked her eyes in an effort to avoid being sucked into them. She had seen it happen before, and it hadn't been pretty.

_"Keepers,"_ said the man from within the ring. Jane and Munnimon both nodded.

"Look, I'm sure that you already know this," began Jane. "But we need your help. Earlier…"

_"Yes. I know. A being crossed over into one of the mortal realms."_

Munnimon and Jane both looked at each other. It was kind of creepy how the guy that they both knew only as _the Druid_ knew of things before they told him.

"So, what of it?" Demanded Munnimon from Jane's side. "What was he looking for? What's so important about that one kid that he was jumped by…"

_"The old world is fading,"_ said the man that Jane and Munnimon knew as the Druid. _"Things are coming to a point now, faster than before. Soon the dark light will shine its radiance across the world and you, Raven, you are at its center."_

Jane looked at the Druid. "Tell me more."

_"You know my price."_

Jane nodded and bade Munnimon to wait for her before she walked towards the ring. Entering it, she rolled up a sleeve, baring her arm to the Druid and nodded to him. The Druid approached her slowly, taking his time as though he were savoring every moment before drawing a knife. Carefully, he gripped Jane's arm and pressed the knife to her forearm. There was a tingle in Jane's skull.

"Mnnn…" she groaned as the beginnings of images began to take shape in her mind. The knife began to cut.

"DESOLATION CLAW!" Shouted a voice, and a blast of energy ripped through the ring of stones, shattering them with ease. Jerking back, the Druid vanished into the mists and Jane gasped in surprise as the connection between them was abruptly cut off. Her mind felt shattered, like a jigsaw puzzle that had just been tipped over. Looking around she saw a boy approach her with a large digimon by his side. He had a look of supreme confidence on his face that was a mask for worry. And there appeared to be something in his hand that somewhat resembled her digivice. All at once, despite the numbing exhaustion that she felt stealing over her mind and body, she understood what had happened. As Jane Dawn, better known to some of her contemporaries as _the Raven_ felt her legs unhinge, she spoke to the boy who may have thought he was rescuing her from some horrible fate.

"You… idiot…" Jane Dawn's vision of the world went dark as she saw the ground suddenly rush to greet her.

5


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Tales from the Digital Manifest

Chapter: 5

_What fools they all are,_ thought Dai as he strode through the streets, listening to the music on his headphones and watching the mass of people going through their daily lives, completely oblivious to the world around them. To Dai, he was of the opinion that many of these _pedestrians_ saw the world as revolving around only two things: themselves or those close to them. All else might as well not exist unless it affected them directly.

_If only they knew what was really out there, they might think about how utterly dreary and boring their lives really are. There's a whole 'nother world out there, well, actually there's two, but these people just don't know it. How would they react if they suddenly knew that monsters really did exist, and that the **Artificial Intelligence** that's been long predicted by science fiction novels was responsible for them?_

_Well, there'd be panic. That's for sure._

Dai thought back to the events that led him to what he was now. Events that gave him a larger understanding of the world around him, and of the ones that existed outside of it.

_There are other worlds than these_, thought Dai, remembering a line that he once read in a book. He smiled at them. They were quite apt to what he had experienced of late. For the past two years, from the moment that he had received his digivice and partner, Kokuwamon. Even then things hadn't gone the way that he had expected them to go. Not like the Digidestined from the TV show, and not like the Tamers from Japan. Dai remembered his first introduction to the group that he called _the Regin_. They weren't by any means a single group. Not by a long shot. They were divided into the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotun respectively (there were other groups as well, but they were as far as he knew at present, uninvolved in current matters), and they fought each other as often as not. Even allies weren't always loyal to each other or to causes. Regin was just a word that he picked up from an old library book that he used to lump them all together. After all, Regin is a Nordic word that meant _the ruling powers_.

As for himself, his relationship with the Regin was rather standoffish. He didn't trust them. The old powers, the Regin that ruled that strange _Other World_ that was not the digital and not quite the real world either, had their own game plan, and for some reason their desires and purposes were focused on the digital plane and any human who was associated with the strange device that they called _the Mjolner_. Dai knew what the Mjolner was. He carried one himself. It was, in fact, his digivice. T-shaped with silver trim, and no other discernable features. No buttons, and yet he was able to make it work with his thoughts and desires alone. Kind of handy when he thought about it, as it cut down on the amount of time it would take to press a button (especially if by some freak accident the button got jammed or something). At any rate, the fact that he had a Mjolner somewhat disturbed him. None of the Regin seemed interested in acquiring it. When he asked why they were so bent on acquiring the others and not his, the only answer that he had gotten was, _it's not the one_. The way it had been said seemed to denote a more specific meaning, and when Dai had inquired further the Regin had simply brushed him off. It was not for him to know, or to question why, they had told him, and Dai got the message. His was, in effect, to do or die. Period.

And he had done so. Dai had been carrying out his duties since then. Rather odd duties they were, and not at all like the ones that he had thought they would be. He had expected to be like the Digidestined, to have some sort of destiny that meant saving the world, like from the TV show that he watched about a year ago. Only that didn't happen. He thought that he was perhaps more like the Tamers that he had heard so much about since the incident with D-Reaper, but that wasn't the case either. In both instances, the human and the digimon tend to be in a partner relationship where the human acts as the catalyst for the digimon's digivolution. One focused more on keeping the peace between the digital and real world's while the other worked more on human/digimon relationships. For Dai and Kokuwamon they were more or less a combination of both, but with some differences. For one, his knowledge of what was going on was much vaster, and the role that the Regin had employed him in was more as a mercenary/soldier. A _Slayer_ they had called him, and he had taken the title with pride. His and Kokuwamon's main duties were patrolling the digital world, all four quadrants, and policing the steady flow of traffic that was, for some reason, flowing back and forth between the world of the Regin and the digital world. Recently, his most recent activities entailed the tracking down of children and digimon pairs that the Regin had called _Keepers_, and acquiring their own versions of the Mjolner. It was a job that he took no pleasure in doing. Some of the children fought back, and most that did were left weeping as their partner's were reduced to digital debris. And in the end, it amounted to nothing. The Regin would take the Mjolner's that he had acquired for them and delete them, saying that _they are not the One._ Whatever that meant. Hearing this, Dai had promptly told them if they could give him a more precise idea of what he was looking for then he wouldn't be wasting their time. Not one of the Regin gave him a response to that. Too high and mighty he thought. And the scary part was, they were. He was just a tool that they could use, and as such they would spare him from whatever it was that they had planned. So long as he remained useful that is.

It was at times like this that Dai would feel more than a little bit uncomfortable with his job title.

Dai stopped in his tracks and looked up at the sky.

_To think that before this world came to be, there was another. Formless, chaotic. And then people came, shaping that world with their hopes and dreams, and their nightmares. Now we live in a technological era that forgets that other world even exists, and yet, ironically, gave rise to a new one that shares so many similarities with the older world. The world of the gods. The thing that I don't get, is why the Regin are so interested in the digital world. They've have command over so much, and held it for so long, that another world can't possibly concern them. Can it?_

Dai shrugged. Nothing was what he thought things would be. Instead of being a Digidestined he became a ruthless marauder, going after kids who were just like him, despite the fact that they were all from other worlds? Other quadrants? And for what? Some goal that the higher powers wouldn't even share with him?

After two years, Dai Akamatsu was starting to get a little disillusioned with what he had believed to be _his destiny_.

And then there was of course, the girl named Raven. As usual, the Regin never told him why he was supposed to keep an ear close to the ground for any news about a person with that peculiar name. He assumed that she was a keeper, like all the other children that he had encountered in the past, and he had no reason to suppose otherwise. For some reason though the Regin held this girl in higher regard. He had '_overheard_' one of the powers refer to her as _the Pure Born_, whatever that meant. Dai wasn't a fan for weird and fancy titles that separated people from others as though they were special in some way that stood out. An ironic bias, coming from him, since he took pride in his title of Slayer.

Dai turned his thoughts away from the Regin for the time being, and thought about the strange digimental that he had picked up in the digital world after his fight with the Manticore. He was almost _positive_ that it was the digi-egg of Darkness, but he had never seen an image of it before so he couldn't be sure. But… and this is a big but… when you work your way down the list, from _Courage _all the way down to _Kindness_, what else was left? From the TV show to the CD drama, all the other Digi-eggs were accounted for **except** for that of Darkness. By the process of elimination Darkness was the only one left, unless there were _other_ attributes that had yet to be found. There were always possibilities.

Dai frowned. He was sure that if the Regin ever found out about his discovery they would be furious. They hadn't liked it when he had held out on them in the past, and this would be no exception. Oddly enough though, Dai found that he just didn't care anymore. He'd still do his job, but for some reason he felt that it was important to keep this little item away from the grasping hands of the Regin. Enough said.

Dai resumed his walk, only to pause as he suddenly realized that the world around him was… _different_. The light around him seemed to have dimmed, becoming almost dreamlike in appearance. The people around him continued on their way, undisturbed by what was occurring in their little corner of the multiverse, though their faces now held a faraway and removed look to them. Dai recognized what this meant. One of the Regin was contacting him.

_Yes?_

_"We have work for you."_

_When do you never? And I might've guessed at that too. It's not like you ever call just to socialize…_

_"Such insolence…"_

_Whatever. The way things have been I think that I deserve a little insolence every now and then. Now, what's the job this time? Another Monster hunt, or am I looking for another kid with a Mjolner?_

_"The former actually. And this time we have two. In the digital world. They don't have what we need, but they are a piece to the puzzle. They are among the closest to the One. They will provide the answers that we seek. Retrieve their Mjolners for us and deliver them to the Jotun stronghold of Utgard."_

_…_

_"Is there a problem with these instructions?"_

_Hmmm? No. No problem at all. Just give me their coordinates and I'll be there._

"I have a better idea…" 

The light of the dreamlike world began to intensify, and Dai had to shield his eyes to prevent himself from going blind. In the real world, the light never existed. The only sign that something had happened though was when the boy named Dai vanished into thin air, becoming almost shadowlike in appearance before leaving existence as the world knew it.

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Dai blinked away the bright spots in his eyes and took a look around. Next to him stood his partner, Kokuwamon, confused as to how they got to… wherever they were.

"Dai?" Asked the mechanical insect. The boy nodded.

"Got a job to do, Kokuwamon."

"The Regin?"

Dai nodded. Kokuwamon sighed.

"I really wish that they chose a less startling method. I preferred the way things used to run. You know, where they just told us what the job was and we went to wherever it was that they wanted us to go on our own."

"Yeah, well. I think that what they want is just to good a chance for them if they don't want to rely on our usual method of transportation. In any case, we're looking for something specific…"

"Anything to do with those two kids and three digimon that are off in the distance there?"

Dai looked ahead and after a brief consultation with his digivice, nodded.

"More kids with Mjolner's, I take it?" Asked Kokuwamon.

"Yeah."

Kokuwamon sighed. "I'm starting to get tired of having to fight them. Why _are _we fighting them Dai? The Regin never tell us…"

"Don't I know it," said Dai. "But they're pretty bent on us taking them this time around, so I figure that it must be important. You ready?"

"Aren't I always?"

Dai pulled out his digivice. "Then let's do it! Digivolve NOW!"

A sphere of data surrounded Kokuwamon as words involuntarily came out of his mouth.

"KOKUWAMON, DIGIVOLVE TOOO…"

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_Jane walked across a wide-open desert, the light of the digital representation of the earth illuminating the night shrouded landscape. A voice spoke to her that at first sounded like the Druid, but then the voice shifted from male to female, soft-spoken, yet full of terrible secrets and sorrowful wisdom._

_"Pure Born. Welcome…"_

_Jane looked around her, finding no source of the voice, or of her partner, Munnimon either._

_"Who's there?" She asked the empty night. Another voice spoke up, this one also female, but different._

_"We are the weavers of life and fate. We are the Weird Sisters…"_

_"You're telling me," said Jane sarcastically. Three voices laughed lightly at this._

_"We are the Norns. We bid you welcome to our abode…"_

_"… However poor it may be."_

_Jane took another look around. "You live here?"_

_"What you see, is not its true manifestation, but rather how we will it to be at the moment. Why will become apparent shortly. Watch…"_

_Jane did indeed watch. The sands of the desert shifted, taking on many forms, each one being destroyed and reformed almost as soon as they were created. Beings and creatures of all shapes and sizes appeared, only to rejoin the desert. Jane couldn't help but feel as though she were watching history pass before her eyes._

_"Payment made," spoke one of the sisters as the sand rose up once again, taking shape once more. "The Druid has fulfilled his mission. The old world is crumbling." the sand shifted once more, solidifying into the shape of two human boys and two reptilian creatures at their sides. One was quadruped and smaller than the other, while the larger of the two had a mane of hair protruding from its scalp. The images didn't disappear this time, and Jane took a moment to look them over, and gasped as she recognized them as the kids that she had been searching for._

_"The old world is crumbling," continued one of the sisters. "And these two will stand at its center. They are chained by, and chains of destiny. Your chains, and they linked to you through them. They are the keepers of the Child's Eye though they know it not. Through them, as well as you, the One can be found."_

_"The One? What do you mean?" Asked Jane, perplexed. "And what's this **Child's Eye **thing that you're prattling on about?"_

_"The Originator of the Mjolners. The Perfect Dreamer. Of anything else, we are forbidden to say. We are sorry."_

_"Somehow, I might've guessed that you couldn't tell me more."_

_There followed a brief chuckle from one of the sisters. Jane turned her attention to the images of the two boys, and her eyes widened as she saw darkness seem to settle over one of them. A boy that she knew well, having memorized his face before he disappeared. If it weren't for the bland color of the sand she would have noted the deep, dark, greenness of his eyes, the darkness of his brown, slightly bushy hair, and his slightly tanned skin. _

_"No…" Jane whispered. "What's happening to him?"_

_"A shadow of things to come. It won't harm him in the long run, but it will serve to strengthen him. You must be their guide if they are to survive."_

_"Duh. I kind of figured on that," said Jane, rolling her eyes. "I have every intention of bringing them home in one piece."_

_"We shall see," said another of the voices, one that hadn't spoken up until now, and no more was said from any of the sisters. The world around Jane darkened even more and Jane felt herself drift away._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Jane awoke slowly to the warm glow and crackle of a fire. Lifting herself up onto one elbow, Jane felt strong arms push her back down.

"Wha…? Who…?" Blinking her eyes Jane found herself staring into the steel blue eyes of a deeply tanned boy. A warm, comforting smile was on his face as he made her settle back down.

"Hold on there. You've been through a lot. Here." the boy handed her a cup filled with water, and she took it gratefully. As she drank it, she took a moment to look at the boy. A memory clicked, and suddenly Jane felt a little anger spark in her.

"Hey! I remember you! You're the one who…"

The boy laughed. "Glad that you remember me. My name's Ryo, and I saved your life, though for some reason I get the feeling that you're not to happy about it."

"Idiot," Jane growled. "You weren't saving my life. I was trying to get information when you came along…"

"Information? Since when does _gathering information_ involve getting your arm slit open?"

"You just don't… understand…" Jane trailed off as she felt unconsciousness start to claim her once again. Seeing this, Ryo sighed and took the cup away from the girl before carefully helping her fall back onto the ground, readjusting the blanket that he had covering her before returning to his place by the fire, next to his partner Cyberdramon. Looking at the small, bird digimon that had accompanied the girl he decided to strike up a conversation.

"So," he began. "You want to tell me what's going on now?"

The digimon, who had identified herself as Munnimon, shook her head.

"I'm sorry. But I'd rather that it be Jane who tells the tale. She understands it better than I do."

Ryo sighed. "Don't suppose that you could just give me your take on it though…"

"No."

"Well, can't blame a fella for trying."

Next to Ryo, Cyberdramon growled, but did nothing as his partner glanced at him. Ryo picked up the digivice that he had found on the girl and looked it over carefully, wondering why it was such a different model from the ones that he's seen so far.

_What's the digital world got going on **this** time?_ The Legendary Tamer wondered.

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Elsewhere…

**"Double Scissor Claw!"** Shouted the Okuwamon as it smashed a claw into the giant saurian and sent it hurling back a few paces where it landed with a heavy crash and a groan. A human child ran up to it, fear plainly painted on his face.

"TERRADRAMON!" The boy shouted. "YOU OKAY?"

"Rrrgh…" the dinosaur growled as it struggled to get back to its feet. The boy looked over at the Okuwamon. It advanced towards them with deadly intent, claws raised into the air as it readied to slash at them.

**"Solar Ray!"**

Suddenly a blinding flash of energy smashed into the giant insect, and it turned its attention to the offending attacker. A large, centaur shaped creature aimed its hand at the Okuwamon, a mechanical device extending from its palm as it charged up for another blast. The Okuwamon leapt towards it with frightening speed and slashed with its claws.

**"Double Scissor Claw!"**

The centaur creature screamed as the claws tore through his body, and he burst into shards of data that floated in the air briefly before being pulled into the Okuwamon's body. Off to the side, there was a roar of rage as a quadruped reptile rushed towards Okuwamon, needle like spines firing from hidden compartments underneath its scales. The spines bounced off of Okuwamon's body with no effect to show for their efforts.

A short distance away, the boy named Dai Akamatsu watched the battle rage, and he brought up his digivice, checking out each of the digimon's stats as it encountered them.

**Terradramon **

**Stage: Champion**

**Type: Vaccine**

**Special Attacks: Claw Slash, Inferno Blast, Fission Burst**

**Dracaramon**

**Stage: Champion**

**Type: Vaccine**

**Special Attacks: Diamond Claw, Scale Blaze**

Dai didn't even bother calling up the stats of the last digimon, a Centarumon. He had seen enough of them in the past, and knew their abilities inside and out. Not that it mattered now, since it no longer posed a threat to…

Some movement caught Dai's eyes and he turned just in time to see a lion like warrior emerge over the crest of a hill, drawing its sword before leaping into the battle, drawing back a fist and unleashing a blast of energy resembling a lion's face.

**"Fist of the Beast King!"** Shouted the newcomer, and Dai gaped in recognition.

_A Leomon? What's a Leomon doing here? I thought that there weren't any other digimon in the area!_

Dai didn't have much time to ponder the situation, as he saw the attack crash into one of Okuwamon's claws, freeing the Dracaramon that it held gripped between them. Dai cursed and raised his digivice, scanning the area for any other potential hostiles, confident in his partner's ability to handle three champions at once. One thing was odd though; the two Champions that were still standing after the Centarumon's deletion were abnormally strong against his Ultimate partner. But then, they were both vaccines while Okuwamon was a virus, so they _did_ have type advantage…

Dai grinned as Okuwamon knocked all three Champions to the ground with another Double Scissor Claw attack. Raising its claws once more, he prepared to finish them.

_It's over now,_ thought Dai.

And then one of the digimon, the one that his digivice had identified as _Terradramon_ began to glow, and a data sphere surrounded it. A second later, the sphere shattered and from it emerged a dragon like digimon with a fairly human like appearance, resembling an ExVeemon somewhat in appearance, only orange with broader wings and twin, fanglike blades protruding from the sides of its wrists. Dai pulled up the analyzer program.

**Mega Terradramon**

**Stage: Ultimate**

**Type: Vaccine**

**Special Attacks: Heart of the Dragon, Dragon Fang, Dragon Fist**

_Oh no…_ thought Dai dazedly as the newly digivolved Ultimate tore into Okuwamon, slashing its blades with deadly accuracy and tearing off a chunk of one of Okuwamon's claws. The Okuwamon screamed and fell back underneath the assault, and Mega Terradramon crossed his arms, summoning a sphere of energy in front of him before whipping his arms outward. The sphere burst apart and a beam of raw energy shot outwards, smashing into Okuwamon with tremendous force.

"**Heart of the Dragon!"**

The beam tore through Okuwamon, sending shards of data in all directions before the massive insect fell to the ground with a heavy crash. It's data destabilized and bled in a massive gush before finally dissipating altogether. Dai fell to his knees in shock as his partner and friend joined the nether realm of the after life.

"No…" Dai whispered in shock, and he let the darkness claim him.

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Jane was once again in a dreamlike land; only different from the last one she had been in. This time she was in the depths of a forest rather than the desert wasteland from before. And there was someone else with her. A boy with sandy, light brown hair, a yellow jacket over a green shirt, and calming amber eyes. He had a small smile on his face, and dangling off his shoulder was a digimon that she recognized as a Terriermon, who was giggling like a little child at her.

"Hello," said the boy. "Don't mind me. I'm just a messenger of sorts. Who I am is not important, though if you want you can think of me as a ghost. I represent the Norns, or at least my interests coincide with theirs."

Jane blinked, but nodded. "Go on."

"You're close to the kids that you're looking for, but you won't meet them right now. Don't let that deter you though, 'cause you will find them. And when they'll need you the most."

"Is that all?" Asked Jane, feeling slightly annoyed. "I could have figured that out by myself." The boy shrugged.

"Yeah, I know. The thing is though, that you're looking for them in the wrong place. The signal that you're following is the wrong one. You're actually following an old one that I left recently. Sorry about the mix up. Anyway, you'll find your friends a couple levels up. You know how to get there?"

Jane nodded.

"Figured. Well, I gotta go now. Be seein' ya."

"Wait!"

It was no use. The boy faded away as well as his Terriermon along with him. The little rabbit's smile was the last to vanish, and for some reason Jane was reminded of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. She shivered.

_Just what the heck is going on here? _She wondered as she felt the dream begin to vanish around her.

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Staring up at the globe that hung in the sky of the digital world, a boy and a Terriermon looked at each other and smiled.

"Told ya I could do it," he said.

"I never doubted you for a second," said the Terriermon, smirking. "Well, at least not the second _after_ you pulled it off. Entering people's dreams is a new one for you."

"It helps when you don't technically _exist_ anymore," said the boy with a sad smile. "There are some nice perks to it, but I wish that it were otherwise."

Terriermon looked at his partner sadly as he returned his gaze to the Earth.

A shooting star flew across the night sky.

10


End file.
